LA Comic Con and "Oo-de-lally, Golly What A Day"!

Hello dear friends! *enter Robin Hood gifs because I miss that movie and it's underrated*

So this post is going to be a SUPER long story about when I went to Comic Con last year... (OMG THERE'S NOT GONNA BE ANY CONS I'M SAD)

It's a crazy story but anyway. Let's flash back!

*August 2019*

I was talking to one of my friends who started going to university and she shared a post with me on Instagram. It was about LA Comic Con and she told me that she was going with a few of her friends. Well that's cool, I thought. But my parents would probably never let me go.

AND THEN I FOUND OUT THAT ELIJAH WOOD WAS GOING TO BE THERE.

And then I kind of lost it. If you've tried to meet several actors from the LOTR cast before, you should already know that he does very few conventions nowadays and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to at least SEE him.

BUT THEN I FOUND OUT HE WAS DOING PHOTO-OPS AND NOW I HAD TO GO.

It's like God had put everything there for me and I just had to ask my parents! No big deal right? 

W R O N G.

Of cOURSE my parents had to prolong the conversation over the course of a few agonizing days. They would totally drift off to another conversation when all I needed was a simple yes! I had the money so I was just waiting for them to agree to let me go. I was getting tired of waiting and I did NOT want the photo-ops to sell out so I decided to ask again. My dad FINALLY said yes and I bought my ticket and photo-op immediately. 

Now let's fast forward to...

*October 2019*

October 1st, 2019 was the day I almost lost my mind. I still couldn't believe I was going to SEE AND MEET ELIJAH WOOD IN PERSON. Not only was I overwhelmed with excitement (which you TOTALLY couldn't tell *wink wonk*) but I was super nervous as well. SO nervous that I almost didn't want to show up to my photo with him. 

(I know... crazy right?)

The whole 11 days before Comic Con were full of anxiety and anticipation. I just wanted to get it over with already. I had the "brilliant" idea of "making" something for Elijah to keep (if he wanted to). So I decided to paint with watercolors over one of my coloring sheets of Bag End. 

(AND I DIDN'T EVEN START THIS LITTLE PROJECT UNTIL THE MORNING OF COMIC CON WHICH GAVE ME MAJOR ANXIETY... but anyway we'll deal with that later)

The night before comic con, I could hardly sleep. I just laid in my bed trying very hard not to cry and scream my lungs out. (I know I'm a weirdo but I seriously thought I would NEVER meet him so this was/is a big deal to me. I mean, you would freak out too, right?)

I eventually fell asleep and woke up the next morning. I got ready and started working on the painting. When I finally finished, I wrote a note on the back of the picture just in case I couldn't say much when I met him. I was sort of shaking as we drove to the convention center. 

When we arrived we saw a loooooooooooooooong line of people blocking the main doors. I started to panic A LOT because it was 12:35 and my photo op time was at 1 p.m. My mom told me to just go through the doors and ask a security guard what the line was for. But DUMMY ME decided to just ask other people who were in line. I also called my friend who was already inside and asked her what the line was for. She said she didn't know and I started panicking even more. So I just went inside the doors despite all the fans giving me weird looks. 

There was a security guard there and I asked where I had to go. I showed him that I already had my ticket on my phone and he just let me go inside the convention (which was pretty darn cool). I met up with my friend and she told me where to go. Another security guard was blocking the way and so I asked where to get my badge. He asked if I had gone through the metal detectors and I panicked and said yes. So he just made me walk around the doors and get my badge. I got it as soon as I walked up to the non-existent line. (THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD LIE TO PEOPLE. THIS JUST MEANS YOU SHOULD BE MORE PREPARED UNLIKE ME.)

Then my friend and I hurried to the back of the convention center so I could get in line for the photo. There were hundreds of fans in cosplay and tons of shops with the coolest fandom merch. I saw MCU stuff, Star Wars stuff, Stranger Things stuff, and so much more. But I walked past all of the awesome stuff and made it to the line. My friend didn't have a photo op so she went to go check out other stuff with her other friends. I checked the time and it was 12:50. I had made it in time so I calmed myself down after all of that craziness and waited in line. (I wrote a note on the back of the painting just in case I froze up and wasn't able to speak to him XD)

Soon the line started moving so I followed them. My stomach was hurting and I was sweating. (Guys, I'm really not exaggerating when I say that I was very nervous.) They didn't allow any bags inside so I had to put my belongings on a rack. But I kept the painting! Then they made the line move past the curtain and saw him standing there, posing with some hobbit cosplayers. (I DID NOT FREAK OUT BTW) I was bewildered. He really is just a normal guy haha! Once it was my turn, he said hi and asked how I was. And I said "good", very cool-y and not shaky AT ALL. And asked how he was. He said "good, thanks for asking". We took the picture and I handed the painting to him and said "this is for you... if you want it". AND HE SAID "oh for me? It's beautiful!"

........ AND THEN I DIED ON THE INSIDE. LIKE. WHAT?! BEAUTIFUL?? 

While all that processed in my head, I managed the words "um thank you!" before the next person started walking towards us. So I just skedaddled out of the way and grabbed my bag and left.

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And there you have it guys.. 1/9 of the Fellowship has been met! One of the craziest days of my life but one of the most memorable as well. Also sorry Frodo hasn't made a post yet.. I think he was saving it for a Christmas tag? Not too sure but I'll update you guys! Have a great day! :)